Some regret Vancouver missed out on baseball

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»Play VideoThe stadium that wasn't: The idea of Vancouver baseball never got past the Clark County Commission. It balked at paying for the stadium with an entertainment tax.

VANCOUVER, Wash. – It was a home run for Hillsboro when it got a professional baseball team but a strikeout for other cities that wanted one but missed out.

In Vancouver plans were made for a new stadium on the campus of Clark College but they turned into a field of broken dreams.

Vancouver passed on the Yakima Bears. In the end, politics won out over baseball. The owners of the team wanted to pay for the stadium with a county tax on other fun things people do, like bowling, concerts and movies.

One county commissioner went for it. One didn't. And one wouldn't swing either way. The idea was called out before the game got started.

In addition to a minor league baseball stadium, a light rail line as part of the Columbia River Crossing was supposed to end at the same spot. But both of those things may not happen.

The Columbian newspaper broke the story of pro-baseball possibly coming to Vancouver. Now that it's not, the editor, Lou Brancaccio sees it as more evidence that Vancouver's becoming the city that just says no.

"There is some irony that the ballpark that isn't, and the light rail, which is likely not to be, are both going to end up in the same place. Instead of having both, the odds are we’ll have neither."

The Hillsboro Hops play their home opener Monday night. The Hops are the Single-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and they host the Eugene Emeralds at 7:05.